Waves crash before the arch punk of opening track Dirty Beaches gets underway, sneery The Clash-like vocals teasing ‘If you only knew the shit that they get up to.’ This quartet from the South East of England have been together since 2009 and this is their debut album, it’s clearly influenced by classic punk-rock bands and on tracks like Sally In The Alley a scruffy British feel, closer to Arctic Monkeys et al.
Amateur Camera has a Blur-era Blur feel to its drawled chorus, ‘Amateur cameras will make you feel glamorous’ sings Sam Comley over spiky guitars, it’s a sing-a-long-able little ditty. Less successful is Tombstone Sister where the vocals sits too clean and detached atop the instrumentation.
There’s an Art Brut vibe to the arch delivery and lyrics that share a similarly adolescent sexual obsession (‘Listen up, something has to be said, because I can’t carry without you in my bed.’) on (If You’re An) Animal, Comley’s voice sits more snugly in the mix with Sham 69-style laddish chants on the chorus. Teenage Nursing Home has a Billy Idol feel, though its lyrically thin and its verse and chorus bring to mind two different songs that I can’t quite remember, suffice to say I spent more time listening to the song trying to think of what they were rather than actually listening to the song!
A downtempo acoustic version of Sally In The Alley follows, giving the track a sort of maudlin folk-punk jaunt, it doesn’t really add or detract much from the earlier rock version, if anything it diminishes the impact of the similarly acoustic Dresden. Fortunately along comes Chinese Lovers with its deliciously silly chugging guitars and it’s barked warning that ‘Something’s gonna kick off!’ Comley even managing to funnel a bit of Foo Fighters on the chorus. It’s a big poseur of a song and it fits the band’s personality better than the messy metaphors of Dresden.
Final track Yes, Priestess! is a ramshackle tune with its tongue-reasonably-in-cheek and a ramshackle feel like a Bad Manners cover of Ian Dury; ‘I am feeling lost and lonely, come and throw your arms around me.’ It’s a bit of an anti-climax after Chinese Lovers, but still one of the better tracks on this LP.
Filthy Nights’ debut album is a serviceable collection of nostalgic punk-rock tunes with a smattering of mainstream influences worn broadly. Unfortunatley this means that a lot of the time it’s a case of ‘Who do they sound like now?’ rather than having a distinctive voice all of their own, but this is a fine, enjoyable little record.
[Rating:3]
